Josep Borrell calls EU to refocus on 'Sophia' naval mission on Libya

Following a meeting of EU foreign ministers, the EU's foreign policy chief has said EU countries have agreed to restart the bloc's Mediterranean naval mission with a focus on enforcing an arms embargo on Libya. The European Union's foreign ministers gathered in Brussels on Monday for talks on how to implement a peace process in Libya, as the country's ongoing internal conflict has turned it into a gateway for illegal migration into Europe. #eudebates #Libya #EuropeanUnion #AlSaraz #Haftar #Erdogan #Turkey #Egypt #Berlin

Following the meeting, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the EU would "refocus" its Mediterranean naval mission, Operation Sophia, to concentrate on upholding the UN arms embargo agreement against Libya.

The European Union discussed all ways to uphold a formal ceasefire in Libya if one is reached but any peace settlement will need real EU support to make it hold, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Monday. Asked about whether the EU could consider a military peace-keeping mission, Borrell said: "A ceasefire requires someone to take care of it. You cannot say, 'this is a ceasefire' and forget about it ... Someone has to monitor it, to manage it."

Also asked if the EU's naval mission off the Libyan coast could be restarted, he said: "I think we have to revive it, yes."

The EU naval mission was initially launched to stop human trafficking while also enforcing the UN arms embargo. However, it collapsed in March 2019 under pressure from Italy's former populist government due to disagreements about distributing the people who were rescued.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Monday that Sophia could be used only if it is "dismantled and reassembled in a completely different way.'' "It must be a mission to monitor the embargo and nothing else," he said.